Indian Navy Has Banned Facebook, Smartphones: Here’s The Reason Why?

In a strong move against the usage of social media, Indian Navy has banned Facebook, smartphones for all their personnel.

Find out the shocking reason why?

Indian Navy Bans Facebook, Smartphones

No Navy personnel will be now allowed to use Facebook, while on official duty.

Not only this, but every Navy personnel has been banned from using smartphones at naval bases, dockyards and on-board warships, across India.

This was shared by news agency ANI on their Twitter account:

The “stringent” step has been taken by the force soon after seven naval personnel were caught leaking sensitive information to enemy intelligence agencies over social media. (2/2) https://t.co/IxIz3UpMT1

Why Has the Indian Navy Banned Facebook, Smartphones?

Navy had to take this extreme measure, after seven Navy sailors were caught spying for Pakistan, in their official capacity.

Indian Naval Intelligence and Central Security Agencies conducted a stealth operation called Operation Dolphin Nose, wherein 7 Navy Sailors and one Hawala operator from Mumbai were arrested under Official Secrets Act, 1923, for spying and espionage.

Since mid-2018, these 7 Navy Sailors located at Visakhapatnam, Mumbai, and Karwar bases were leaking sensitive information pertaining to Indian ships and submarines to an ISI handler.

They were arrested, and taken to National Investigation Agency (NIA) Court in Vijayawada, and are right now in official custody.

As per reports, these Navy sailors were lured by 3-4 ‘Pakistani women’ via Facebook, and then were ‘recruited’ as spies for ISI.

They were receiving a good deal of money as well, for their spying operation.

Indian Army Too Has Banned Facebook

Few days back, Indian Army too had banned Facebook and Whatsapp for their high ranking officers. An advisory was issued, wherein it was ordered that no high ranking Army officer will use Whatsapp for official communication, and will delete their Facebook profiles as well.

This was done after it was revealed that Whatsapp of several Indians were hacked using Pegasus software.

Mohul keenly observes the nuances of Indian startup world; and tries to demystify the secrets behind Technology, Marketing, Mobile and Internet. He is a Writer by passion, Marketer by choice and Entrepreneur by compulsion. Follow him on Twitter here: @_mohul